FO Friday: Pink Merino Sparkly 2-ply

My tiny 85 gram batt of shedding merino and sparkle is finally complete and done leaving a trail of fluff in my house! I have a finished Pink Merino Sparkle 2-ply to show for it!

I ended up with an 84 gram skein that made 88 yards. So I lost very little of the original batt despite the fluffy shedding. This skeins is a little inconsistant. Some parts were worsted at 9 wraps per inch and other sections were closer to 11 wraps per inch which is more DK weight.

Still, I’m happy with the skein. I don’t know what I will make with it as it sheds. But for now it will join the precious handspun stash. Now its time to make Christmas cookies!!! Bring on Christmas break 🙂

Happy Spinning!!

Spinning Finn

I finished the incredibly sparkly and very messy Pink Merino Sparkle 2-ply. I’ll have FO pics to share tomorrow! So I decided to keep my wheel cozy and warm but starting the Finn roving I got at Fiber Flurry.

I have three little one ounce nests. I plan to spin each on its own bobbin and then make a 2-ply if the fibers spins thick or a 3-ply if they spin thin. This is my first time working with Finn so I am interested to see how it turns out with my technique level.

This color would fit nice with some of my first handspun in natural colors. I am still dreaming of a big thick cozy handspun sweater. But we shall see!! Christmas is almost here so I have many many things to do!

Happy Spinning!!

Ghosts of Advents Past (Part 2)

When I found my wee advent socks, I also found the mini sweaters I was making. I hated them…they were short sleeved and very tiny. So I ripped them out and figured out a long sleeve and larger version I liked.

They turned our great! I am still using Wee Sweater by Sarah Schira pattern, just with some mods. A wee sweater takes me a full evening of TV knitting. So I only have two of these complete but they are fun and get a little faster each time.

For these, I found some gold ribbon that I plan to “hang” the sweaters from for a sweater garland. This garland will be separate from the tiny sock one. One is good so two must be better!

Happy Knitting!!

Cozy Knitter Sock Advent Progress

I am catching up with the 2022 Cozy Knitter self striping 24 day advent skein!

This is roughly day 10 or so? I may not get a stripe every day but they are only 4/5 rows total so it’s easy to catch up. I am giving myself the grace to complete this as quickly or slowly as I need. After all, I have all of Christmas weekend to do whatever catch-up I need!

Happy Knitting!!

Ghosts Of Advents Past (Part 1)

With all the festivities this year, I decided to pull out my 2021 Chromatic Yarns advent calendar. I had this big plan last holiday to knit 24 tiny little socks. Yeah…..that never materialized, lol.

I’m feeling a little more grounded this year so I re-evaluated and decided that the socks should be pairs. I have managed to finish two pairs and almost done with a third. These are the first three advent days in order.

When they get done, I am thinking of stitching them to a ribbon decorative twine to make a garland. But let’s get over the hurdle of 48 total tiny socks. It takes me half an evening of knitting to make a sock if I can stay off my phone. So maybe a Q1 2023 goal?

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Super Simple Summer Sweater

My Super Simple Summer Sweater survived surgery and is DONE!

Pattern: Super Simple Summer Sweater by Joji Locatelli (Rav link)

Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in the Jupiter colorway

Needles: US 8s, US 6s and US5s

Mods: I made this sweater longer in the body and sleeves. I also knit the back split hem longer than the front split hem.

My kitchener stitch is still slightly visible after blocking but not so much that a muggle will notice. I am VERY happy with the adjustments to this sweater. I feel like it suits my body type much better as a regular sweater and not as a tunic.

This took just over 6 1/2 skeins of the worsted yarn so that is roughly 1,380 yards of yarn. I had two different dye lots but using helical knitting I think they blended nicely. The average eye can see some flashing and striping but it looks intentional so I’m pleased.

Now I just need to plot my next sweater! Happy Knitting!!

Making Candy

Trying to get into the Christmas spirit and I found some walnuts in my freezer. I have been seeing TikToks about candied nuts and how easy they are. So I gave it a go!

The left shows the walnuts pre-baking and the right is the finished product. They were very simple and I used this recipe.

I can attest that when sprinkled on ice cream they taste JUST like cinnamon toast crunch. I will definitely make these again and possible for holiday cheer around my office this year.

Happy Holidays!!

The Weather Outside is Delightful

It’s definitely getting colder here in Kansas. I decided to pull out my scrappy memory blanket to work on in between my 2022 Advent Socks. Since the daily stripe on my socks doesn’t take much time I thought this was a perfect companion project.

Based on the project keeper, I have added roughly 16 blocks to this since this past April. The bonus factor is that this keeps my lap quite warm while I am working on it. This piece is large enough to cover me from toes to shoulders. And the multi-colored stained glass look is really making my knitting soul fulfilled!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: 2022 Advent Socks

I didn’t go full advent calendar this year but I did buy the Cozy Knitter 2022 self-striping sock set. The idea is that there are 24 stripes and you knit one a day starting December first and by Christmas you have finished socks.

I have been keeping up fairly well with the daily knitting as it doesn’t take much time to roughly four or five rows. I haven’t been as good with photographing my progress, but I have these snaps from when I started.

Full disclosure, the skeins did not come with the contrast skein. I dug around in my minis and pulled out one from Leading Man Fiber Arts in the “It’s Cold Outside” colorway. The name made it the perfect match to some Christmas socks. It’s a little darker than the blue in the skein but I like things a little quirky!

Happy Knitting!!

Spinning From The Flurry

It’s been about one month since I touched my wheel. I decided to get back into the flow over the weekend. I grabbed the small 2 oz custom batt I bought at Fiber Flurry 2022.

This bat is VERY fluffy and VERY sparkly. It sheds more than my daycare providers German Shepherd in the spring. There are only 2 ounces of this fiber so I will just spin the whole thing onto one bobbin and then 2-ply back on itself.

I am a little out of practice so I reasoned that going back to my “default” spin would be a nice warm up to get my fingers back into the groove. Happy Spinning!!